Best Stealth Opening

Or maybe more accurately “Best Opening We Slept On;” while our attention was held by the Senator’s renovation, the Pikes Theater has been back in action since November after 30 years of dormancy, thanks to the efforts of movie theater mogul Ira Miller, who also runs the four-screen Rotunda Cinemas and six-screen Beltway Movies. The Pikes’ circa-1938 art-deco exterior now houses two 80-seat theaters, and there are at least five decent restaurants within walking distance (including the attached movie-memorabilia-stuffed Pikes Cinema Bar and Grille) for great dinner-and-a-movie prospects.